Last Post (Finally)

 Thanks to all our many fans for their patience for the final post for this trip. The last few days of the trip were packed and and I flew to Phoenix to drive a car home 10 hours after landing in Winnipeg. I am currently stuck in Sioux Falls due to the blizzard so I finally have time to write.

I will resume the story when we arrived in Genoa. We got off the boat and took a bus tour to two beautiful little towns on the coast. The drive is amazing as the highway has as many miles in tunnels as it has out in the open. The towns were Rapallo and Sestri-Levante. We had a wine tasting in Sestri. Angie and I then went to a cute little cafe for lunch.

Here is a picture of Rapallo.

As seemed to happen every night on the ship, we had dinner with the Hamiltons and ended up at the casino. What a surprise.

Our second last stop on the ship was at Livorno. Angie and I took a 90 minute bus ride to Florence and had 5 hours on our own when we got there. Highlight on the bus was when our guide gave us a map of Florence and one of the other passengers complained when the map said Firenze. "I thought we were going to Florence!" 

We walked to downtown and saw all the sites. One of the prettiest cities you will ever see. We walked along the river to Ponte Vecchio. This is from the other side from the one you usually see.

By 1:00 we were hungry and we found the busiest sandwich shop. They have 4 storefronts on the same street and we still waited 30 minutes . It was worth the wait.

Fresh and delicious! Phil, the salami was wonderful.

On our walk back to the bus, our guide pointed out a little church and asked if we wanted to go in. She gave us 5 minutes to take a look. I found the tomb of this guy and asked him directions back home. He didn't have much to say.

Our last night on the boat we went for a nice steak dinner with the Hamiltons to celebrate the trip. It was a pleasure to have them on the trip with us and rekindle an old friendship. When we arrived in Rome, we went our seperate ways to each experience the city.

We were fortunate that Angie bought guided tours of St Peter's Basilica for both days we were there. Was an accident, but worked out as we had a trip to the dome scheduled on the second day. The first day there were us and another couple on the tour, so it felt very personal. I learned much more about the church that I ever would have on our own. 

Here is the Pope's altar at the centre of the church where only he can perform mass. The church is enormous and the pictures from the next day will show that. Later we walked all around the city and saw the usual sights and some different ones. There is a piece of history around every corner and in every square.

The next day, we skipped the tour and went directly to the dome. There is an elevator that takes you to the observation area. The views are exceptional!

This picture gives you an idea of the enormity of it. Angie was daring and took the 330 steps up to the very top of the dome. I didn't think my knee could handle it, but she was a trooper and made it. The views were worth it.

Here is Angie on the roof at St Peter's and inside the church.

On the way out we saw a couple of the Swiss Guard keeping an eye on the us as we definitely looked suspicious.

We rewarded ourselves with some Gelato on the walk back to the room.

The next day we made our way home. Thankfully all our flights were on time, but it was a long day. The alarm went off at 5:15am and we taxied to the airport. Flew from Rome to Paris, Paris to Calgary and Calgary to Winnipeg. We were in bed by midnight, but it was a 24 hour day.

Once again, I would like to thank Gord and Cheryl Hamilton for accepting our invitation to join us on the trip. They turned a great trip into a perfect one!

That is it until the next extended trip and accompanying blog. I hope our fans can hold themselves until that happens.